With just four days left for the last session of the present Lok Sabha, the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Security in Parliament House Complex has decided to leave the task of deciding on whether to frisk or full body scan sitting members to the 16 th Lok Sabha.
Though many of the members of the Committee – which met on Monday to address the situation arising out of last Thursday’s pepper spray incident – were not in favour of frisking members in Parliament House, they advised chairman Kariya Munda to inform the Lok Sabha Speaker about the deliberations.
Primarily, the members were of the view that the presiding officers were empowered to suspend legislators who enter the Well of the House and should exercise those powers. Also, political parties should discipline those members who misbehave in the House.
Most members were against frisking and some brought home the fact that scanners were a controversial issue even overseas in view of radiation fears. This is particularly so for members who frequently move in and out of the premises. The Millimetre Wave Scanner and X-Ray scanners came up for discussion as an alternative to frisking to detect if members are carrying any life-threatening objects into the premises.
Leaving the final decision to the 16 Lok Sabha, the Committee asked the Lok Sabha Secretariat to do the spadework in the meantime and find out more details about these scanners, the concerns expressed overseas about their use as also the security regime for legislators in parliaments elsewhere.
